I thought I was reading The Onion, but it turned out to be China Daily. Today's headline reads: China says its Web open, welcomes Int'l companies. This is China's response to Google's latest memo about the possibility of exiting its business on the mainland due to censorship and cyber attacks originating in China. This also comes after Zhou Xisheng, deputy chief of Xinhua News Agency, told the world, "Our country's Internet situation is unique. Compared to all kinds of restrictions in foreign countries, China has the most open Internet in the world."
Another article adds to China Daily's: "Web companies must abide by 'propaganda discipline,' the official, Wang Chen, was quoted as saying. 'Companies have to concretely increase the ability of Internet media to guide public opinion in order to uphold Internet safety.'" Interpretation: all Web content must express the Chinese government's pre-approved view of all subjects discussed to further brainwash the masses.
I'm still trying to figure out what China means by "open." With countless Web sites blocked in the country (YouTube, Twitter, imdb, Danwei.org, Facebook, Blogspot, Wordpress, and many more), just how open is that door to China's Internet?
Showing posts with label blocked. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blocked. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Counterproductive Censorship
It's the run up to that all-important anniversary of the event that never really happened in China 20 years ago. I'm not surprised, and most others aren't either, that the government decided to "harmonize" a great many Web sites that could endanger the harmonious socialist society with Chinese characteristics. Those Web sites include Twitter, Flickr, Hotmail, Youtube, WordPress, Blogger, and the rest of the decent half of the Internet.
I won't get into the seemingly random Great Firewall that blocks harmless sites but leaves others with more detrimental information open (they still have some pornographic sites open). The more important question to ask about the Great Firewall is what does it really achieve? Does it preserve this harmonious society ideology?
The information that the Chinese government wants to hide from its citizens are those that include voices of dissent--human rights advocates, environmental activists, anti-corruption activists, and democratic reformers. Blocking information from such groups will keep much of the population in the dark, but most of those people wouldn't care about such information to begin with. Students who are indoctrinated in the CCP propaganda brush aside dissent without ever considering the purpose behind it. And the common Chinese citizen doesn't give much thought to politics.
Those involved in dissent are also not hurt by the Great Firewall--to them it's more of an inconvenience. There are plenty of ways around the blocks--VPNs and proxy servers. If they want information, they can get it. If they want to spread information, they will find a way.
The greatest problem for the government this time around is that they blocked access to Web sites that the common Chinese Internet user uses. There are many people there who use Twitter and Hotmail. To these people, it's more than an inconvenience. These people may not have cared about online censorship previously, but now it affects them. If anything, it can turn a politically apathetic person into a vocal critic. It's the small curbs that can do the most damage.
I won't get into the seemingly random Great Firewall that blocks harmless sites but leaves others with more detrimental information open (they still have some pornographic sites open). The more important question to ask about the Great Firewall is what does it really achieve? Does it preserve this harmonious society ideology?
The information that the Chinese government wants to hide from its citizens are those that include voices of dissent--human rights advocates, environmental activists, anti-corruption activists, and democratic reformers. Blocking information from such groups will keep much of the population in the dark, but most of those people wouldn't care about such information to begin with. Students who are indoctrinated in the CCP propaganda brush aside dissent without ever considering the purpose behind it. And the common Chinese citizen doesn't give much thought to politics.
Those involved in dissent are also not hurt by the Great Firewall--to them it's more of an inconvenience. There are plenty of ways around the blocks--VPNs and proxy servers. If they want information, they can get it. If they want to spread information, they will find a way.
The greatest problem for the government this time around is that they blocked access to Web sites that the common Chinese Internet user uses. There are many people there who use Twitter and Hotmail. To these people, it's more than an inconvenience. These people may not have cared about online censorship previously, but now it affects them. If anything, it can turn a politically apathetic person into a vocal critic. It's the small curbs that can do the most damage.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Surprised?
I'm amazed at the reactions I've read about Internet access as it relates to journalists during the Olympics. Everyone is shocked that China will not provide complete, unfiltered access. Of course the government doesn't want reporters doing research for politically sensitive topics during August. And I'm sure that all the volunteers in the Olympic Media Village will be monitoring every computer for poxy servers and other undesirable material (careful, don't surf for porn on Chinese government computers).
The bigger story is that the harmonized access to the Internet will be expensive. According to Andrew Lih and Slashdot, Beijing is charging US$1131.20 for Internet access in the Olympic Media Village. That fee is for one month of Internet access. To put this in perspective, I pay about 700 RMB for six months of harmonized access to the Web. At this time the exchange rate is approximately 6.8 RMB to $1; you do the math.
And then there is US Senator Sam Brownback, who is berating China over its alleged attempts at spying on foreign guests in hotels. Does Sen. Brownback think that tourists are carrying state secrets to China during the Olympics? How does the Senator feel about my own government listening in on my weekly phone calls with my parents? I bet Homeland Security is bored every time they listen in.
Sen. Brownback, have you met Mr. Kettle?
The bigger story is that the harmonized access to the Internet will be expensive. According to Andrew Lih and Slashdot, Beijing is charging US$1131.20 for Internet access in the Olympic Media Village. That fee is for one month of Internet access. To put this in perspective, I pay about 700 RMB for six months of harmonized access to the Web. At this time the exchange rate is approximately 6.8 RMB to $1; you do the math.
And then there is US Senator Sam Brownback, who is berating China over its alleged attempts at spying on foreign guests in hotels. Does Sen. Brownback think that tourists are carrying state secrets to China during the Olympics? How does the Senator feel about my own government listening in on my weekly phone calls with my parents? I bet Homeland Security is bored every time they listen in.
Sen. Brownback, have you met Mr. Kettle?
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Low Tide?
It's not a great day for surfing the Web. Just can't seem to catch a decent wave on China Telecom's Internet. Everything is loading slowly and some sites are blocked. It seems that the Great Firewall of China is at it again--blocking the harmless sites, sometimes only for a while. Today I have had difficulty getting into Hotmail, Writer's Digest Forums, and Technorati. Two days ago I even had a difficult time accessing my university's e-mail server... from my office. Of course, most of the usual stuff is also blocked. It seems that they have managed to mess with my Firefox proxy that allows me to access blogs hosted by Blogger. This is getting to be really annoying.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Back to Work
Well, the Great Net-Nanny Nuisance Firewall of China has slightly loosened its noose grip on Internet content. I can usually get into my Yahoo account now--yesterday I had to use the French server to log in. Now, the content filter is working within most news sites to prevent people inside the Middle Kingdom from reading particular articles (I just clicked on a China-related article on the Washington Post site and it was blocked). It seems they're filtering keywords that have to do with recent and/or ongoing incidents. Many bloggers who are not already blocked (my blog is inaccessible on the mainland) have found interesting ways around the filter by typing with symbols in place of letters. I'm just wondering how much longer that will last.
On another topic, my boss said that the school has been providing Chinese classes for the Korean students and will see if I can join in. I just have to hope it's not too advanced for me to understand, otherwise it's back to my plan of getting Jia to kick my ass when I'm lazy and not studying.
One other note that I seem to have forgotten for some time: On my ride to and from school, I have noticed a significant increase in the amount of graffiti in Shenzhen since the Spring Festival break. I've grown accustomed to seeing names with phone numbers painted everywhere (usually for counterfeit diplomas or prostitution), but this is definitely Western-style graffiti (some in English). It's only a matter of time before they paint over it all though--just as soon as they finish digging the subway lines all over the city in anticipation of the 2011 Universiade.
On another topic, my boss said that the school has been providing Chinese classes for the Korean students and will see if I can join in. I just have to hope it's not too advanced for me to understand, otherwise it's back to my plan of getting Jia to kick my ass when I'm lazy and not studying.
One other note that I seem to have forgotten for some time: On my ride to and from school, I have noticed a significant increase in the amount of graffiti in Shenzhen since the Spring Festival break. I've grown accustomed to seeing names with phone numbers painted everywhere (usually for counterfeit diplomas or prostitution), but this is definitely Western-style graffiti (some in English). It's only a matter of time before they paint over it all though--just as soon as they finish digging the subway lines all over the city in anticipation of the 2011 Universiade.
Friday, March 23, 2007
D'oh! Again!
Once again the all-powerful government has blocked access to the blogs. Due to the "threat" of blogs, many foreign run blogging companies are blocked (including blogspot). This means that I can no longer read any blogs that are on this server or a few others. I suppose I can find some software to get around the great firewall. Until then, just know that if I am a regular reader of your blog, I probably won't be reading for a while.
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